Honeybee decline spells trouble for our food supplybillions of honeybees have died worldwide since 2006. Coined the colony collapse disorder (CCD),
bee colonies are important to our food supply. Honeybees pollinate close to 90 crops such as avocados, cucumbers, sprouts, apples, onions, broccoli, coffee and tomatoes.
Around 90 agricultural crops-representing one third of global food production volume-are dependent to some extent on animal pollination.
Foods and beverages produced with the help of animal pollinators include almonds, apples, blueberries, coffee, melons and soybeans.
each pulling large packages filled with mostly health and food products, like diapers and bottled drinks.
and plant our own food, 22-year-old Wing said. And it s healthier. Each small section of this part of the farm is rented out for US$20 per month It s just human nature,
Advocates have promised next-gen biofuels will reduce greenhouse emissions and end the use of food crops for fuel.
The NRC warned the increased production of advanced biofuels could inadvertently push up food prices by competing with food crops for land.
or the first food eaten in space, it s that the Internet's not inherently a place for lies any more than a bottle cap is a place for truth.
What food is grown locally there? When people think of Maine, they think of blueberries and lobster, which are our signature foods,
but there s really a wide variety of foods that are grown in the region here. You get everything from kale and melon to eggs and dairy.
We just have a short growing season. We have farmers markets that are now open year round.
the crops aren't used for human (food) consumption. Instead the city sells the crops to biofuel makers.
a talk with NASA's space food managerwhile it's not exactly five-star cuisine,
astronauts survive on more than the freeze-dried space food found in museum gift shops. To get a look inside NASA's kitchen,
I spoke last week with Michele Perchonok, Shuttle Food System manager at Johnson Space center. How has evolved astronaut food over the years?
In the beginning, we didn't even know if people could swallow in microgravity. We didn't know how much was due to the muscles contracting
and digest their food in microgravity. Early astronaut food was basically tubes and cubes: pureed applesauce in a toothpaste tube or compressed cubes of sandwiches or breads or desserts.
The astronauts said it tasted OK, but it just wasn't satisfying because it wasn't close to
Half the food on International Space station is U s. food and half is Russian food. We're now up to a 16-day menu cycle.
We've been able to increase our offerings and the Russians have gone also to that 16-day menu cycle.
Eight days of food is U s. food or other international partners, such as the Europeans or Japanese,
and the Russians have half the food. What are some of the challenges you face
when producing food for space? All of our food has to be shelf stable, meaning is has to be safe to eat
when stored at room temperature. In addition, it's very difficult to transfer food from Point A to Point B. The astronauts eat their food within the food package most of the time.
They will use tortillas like a wrap or a sandwich. We want the astronauts to be able to eat out of the food package with utensils.
There is a property called'surface tension'meaning if the food is wet enough, but not too wet, it will stick to a surface such as the food package or the utensil.
We have to make sure that our food is not too runny and we have to make sure the food has a sauce.
Because crumbs will float around--they can get everywhere from in your eye to into equipment--there are fans
and filters to circulate the air and get any foreign matter caught. But you don't want to be changing the filters all the time.
That's one reason we don't bring up a lot of bread or cookies because they create crumbs.
We've gotten a lot of anecdotal reports that the food just doesn't taste the same on orbit.
the comments are that the food has lost flavor. That's probably a combination of phenomena.
We don't heat our food up piping hot because of power limitations, so there may not be as many aromas coming out of the food.
The last piece is psychological. While they're away from home --even though it's a wonderful and exciting opportunity--astronauts are separated from family and friends.
You may crave comfort foods you grew up with, whether it's macaroni and cheese or meatloaf or mashed potatoes.
We have approximately 180 items on our food list. We just had a food session for a potential launch at the end of June.
The crew tasted about 60 of the 180 items and rated them 1 to 9. Anything rated 6
'which are items they like on the official food list or they're fresh food items such as meats and candies.
What are some of the most popular food items for astronauts? Shrimp cocktail is very popular.
Fresh foods are defined as foods that aren't on our official list. They can bring up items like apples or oranges.
How do you maintain the nutritional value of foods when they require a shelf life of several years?
But we do know the methods we're using to preserve the foods are part of the culprit for losing the nutrition.
or high-pressure processing, where you heat the food and then hit it with high pressure. That kills the cell walls of the microorganisms and maintains the quality and nutrition of the food at a higher level.
The other process is microwave sterilization--killing the microorganisms in the microwave. That also is providing a higher quality product.
or heating the foods to preparing a meal, that will provide some fresher foods and therefore foods that are higher in nutrition.
How else are you preparing for the possibility of a Mars mission? We've worked for several years trying to find a high-barrier packaging material that does not contain foil.
If we go to high-pressure processing or microwave sterilization, we can't use the foil pouch we're using
if we store the food at a higher temperature or if we adjust the formula a little bit,
We're starting to look at how we can possibly use probiotics in our foods. We know probiotics are good for the digestive system
We're looking at how food accessibility affects crew members'moods. For example, is it worthwhile to celebrate a birthday or a holiday,
which may require some extra food items? Gut feeling says yes, but we need to get that answer.
I got into food science due to a summer job. I was a chemistry major in college
the director of the lab was trying to persuade me to go into food science. I gave chemistry a try the following summer and decided I wanted food science.
I love it. It's an applied science and it's multidisciplinary. My goal had been to work for a food company
and develop food products for them, which is did what I for about 16 years. I got a job here about 10 years ago.
It's certainly the most exciting job a food scientist could ever have. It's constantly changing
I'm developing food for Mars. It makes the job very special. Image, top: As seen in artist's rendering,
as they convert ordinary backyards into lush food garden
How wireless networks could keep cows from burping methanehere s a novel way to combat global warming:
and other food discarded in restaurants and canteens across Beijing make their way to the plant,
Beijinger s penchant for fried food means that the city s waste is surrounded by a layer of cooking oil,
which locks out oxygen required for the food to biodegrade properly. Food waste s high water content makes it tough to burn
But difficulties  encouraging  resturants to donate their waste food mean that it currently produces less than half that.
so we're dependent on them for food deliveries, Yi said. Despite the plant s apparent environmental benefits, Beijingers remain suspicious.
calling on the local government to cancel the construction of one of the firm's waste food processing plants in their neighborhood,
A couple of times a week from spring through fall, Moran and a Danish colleague, Thomas Paulsen, forage for ants for Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant where they work (often named the world's top table by food critics
Over the past year or so, Noma's chef and co-owner, Renã Â Redzepi, has become a leading proponent of insects as food.
In 2008 he co-founded the Nordic Food Lab, a nonprofit foundation for culinary research.
when he launched an annual culinary symposium called Mad (Danish for food), the Brazilian chef Alex Atala showed up with Amazonian ants to try.
Right now, these three ants we've found are making our food better. And ants are only the beginning--the earth hosts at least 1
Every morning before work, Redzepi stops in at the Nordic Food Lab, a roomy houseboat docked in the harbor steps from Noma.
Its purpose is to expand upon food knowledge with long-term research projects, and disseminate its findings at conferences and via its website (www. nordicfoodlab. org).
or how impressive their food conversion rate--if they don't taste good, nobody will want to eat them.
The Food Lab receives the bugs in different stages of development: older pupae with the beginnings of a differentiated thorax and abdomen,
One of the experts with whom the Food Lab collaborates is Paul Rozin, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in food choices and disgust.
Rozin calls learning to like things that originally turn us off (such as cigarettes) hedonic reversals,
The staff at the Nordic Food Lab say there are many reasons for convincing Westerners to add insects to their diet.
They have a high food conversion rate--according to the U n. Food and agriculture organization, crickets need six times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein.
At the Food Lab, the staff use cultural practices as a starting point. If a certain insect is part of a human diet somewhere in the world,
and a liquid the Food Lab would use to flavor their staff meals. We can't hope to make other people incorporate these foods into their diet
if we don't said, Evans. Not every experiment is a success. Reade recalls trying to make bagoong, a fermented prawn condiment, with langoustine heads.
The fermented cricket paste was the first of the Food Lab's insect-based creations to make it onto the menu at Noma.
Nordic Food Lab
In Hong kong, appointments only for iphone 4shong KONG--It s not too surprising anywhere in the world to see people lining up to buy the iphone 4s.
Å If it s purely vegetarian food then I will definitely go to it, Â said Srivastava,
who describes the food available near the religious site as a bit bland. Å You can t have any onions
Å So why not have different kind of food there. Â Economics no doubt, is the driving force behind the veggie decision.
Several of these American chains have gradually Indian-ized their menu by offering vegetarian items as well as making their food spicier than
It also maintains separate kitchens to prepare vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Mcdonald s non-vegetarian menu in India excludes beef and pork.
I don t think the younger generation links food with religion the way it was done in the past.
critics see it as a misfit in the healthier vegetarian food club as well as a poor challenge to tradition Indian fast-food.
Beddard launched The Kale Project earlier this year to reintroduce the forgotten vegetable to the Parisian food scene.
 Pastry chef and Paris food blogger David Lebovitz has written about the trials of finding kale in Paris.  Å
Å I think it s a huge opportunity to bring something to this country where food is so important
Far from a food trend like hamburger or bagels in Paris Beddard hopes that kale will go the way of the parsnip,
India sets in motion the world's biggest food subsidy programa child begs on the street in Kashmir DELHI--With less than a year left for national elections,
which it says will help legally codify the right to food. This is seen as the first step to implementing a law that will allow 800 million Indians to buy food grain at incredibly low prices--the world's biggest food subsidy program.
This effort of the government may look egalitarian but there are remaining questions, concerns and divisions within India on the form of this proposed law,
Biraj Patnaik, an adviser to a commission appointed by the Supreme court of India to oversee existing public food distribution schemes,
It also runs free daily food camps for poor students in government schools under the Midday Meal Scheme.
Kavita Srivastava, a member of the Right to Food campaign, a coalition of non-government organizations, said that the national food security bill is a crucial opportunity to end hunger and malnutrition in India.
The Rome-based Food and Agricultural organization estimates that between 2010-12 India had 217 million people at risk of undernourishment.
and suggested that special entitlements of food or cash should also been given to the aged, disabled, widows, migrants and destitute.
whether the Indian government can afford to pay for this subsidized food. It is estimated that this scheme needs an addition 200 billion rupees or ($33. 3 billion) to the existing one trillion rupees food subsidies currently cost.
Reetika Khera, assistant professor of economics at the Indian Institute of technology, Delhi noted that India should be able to afford the scheme.
or $10 as support from the government to buy food. Ram does not even know that the government is planning to change this policy
The Food and Drug Administration seems set on regulating the software that runs on the ipad, not the device itself,
Aquaponics are closed-circuit food production system. Simply put, fish are raised in a tank of water that circulates from the plants and back into the tank.
and a handful of startups are growing food to supply local restaurants. Governing explains how a larger-scale aquaponics industry would play out in Milwaukee:
providing jobs and a supply of nutritious, locally produced food for residents. In the bigger picture, proponents want Milwaukee to develop industry leading expertise in technologies,
If successful, it could be a good model for cities that are struggling with water quantity and food desert issues.
food packaging design goes high-techas shoppers at Barnes and noble in Manhattan s Union square peruse the latest issues of Esquire and Glamour on a recent afternoon,
a production company just a floor above them is creating food packaging using some of the highest-tech tools to date.
food packaging design has gone officially high-tech. More than half of the sales in the packaging industry go to the food industry,
And, in virtually all food products, he said, the packaging costs more than the food ingredients. Å You wouldn t have a packaging industry
Å The volume of food products sold in packages is so large it s almost beyond comprehension.
 With the sheer volume of food packaging on the planet plus the stringent safety and health regulations surrounding edible products, it seems only natural that high-tech packaging design innovations would begin with food.
Since packaging is meant to help food products stay fresher longer, the industry is constantly dreaming up new ways to improve shelf life
while using fewer additives, said Kay Cooksey, Cryovac endowed chair at Clemson University. Fresh, refrigerated pastas, rather than the dried kind found in the pasta aisle,
whether that food is harboring a dangerous pathogen. Researchers are designing packaging that could alert consumers to a pathogen in the food
or to a food product that s nearing the end of its shelf life, Cooksey said. A French company has developed a sensor that can detect
if food has been abused Å temperature, Â or stored at an inappropriately cold or hot level.
If temperature abuse is detected, the sensor will block out a portion of the product barcode, prohibiting a customer from purchasing it.
it s especially relevant in food packaging, said Susie Stitzel, solution manager at Esko. That s because of the pressure that comes with consumers constantly buying
--and discarding--food packages. Some parts of the world, such as China and Africa, don t have the infrastructure capacity to handle the millions of food packages crossing their borders,
Hotchkiss said. And some states in India are even working to ban certain types of packaging.
has lead to some high-tech food packaging tool and solutions to be used for increasing sustainability.
Conagra Foods for example, was the first North american company to incorporate post-consumer recycled plastic into its frozen meal trays.
Preventing food waste can also help achieve sustainability through food packaging. Many food products are thrown away because consumers believe--falsely--that they ve gone bad.
Printed electronic sensors that make it clear when food is still safe to eat could prevent such waste,
Cooksey said. But to follow through on the sustainability mission, she added, the sensors themselves would have to be recyclable.
Despite the move toward safer and more sustainable packaging, there are potential downsides to high-tech food packaging design, Young Teck Kim,
And consumers might need to be educated on complicated new food packaging like bioplastics. For instance, if consumers don t know to separate compostable food packaging from other landfill waste,
Kim said, they could generate an even worse environmental impact than if they were using traditional packaging.
And just because a high-tech food packaging idea works in the lab doesn t mean it s easy to scale up,
Researchers are working on an antimicrobial film that would go inside food packaging to provide an extra barrier against pathogens.
that mandate packaging components don t interact negatively with the food product. It s also tough to tell just how high-tech consumers want their food packaging to be said,
Cooksey. It might be too soon for an interactive jar of pickles. But the future of food packaging looks toward even more interactivity, Cooksey said.
There are efforts to let food packages and appliances, like microwaves and refrigerators, Štalk to each other  through information from scanned barcodes.
Å Even more so, we re going to have things that are more interactive, Â she said.
So it might not be long before the sophisticated Esko Visualizer programs are rendered obsolete by yet another innovation in food packaging design.
Kraft Foods Campbell, N y.,plant offsets 30%of its natural gas needs. Kraft has invested heavily in technology at the two of its plants
Better still, the permanent etching-hence tattoo--does not increase water loss, nor the entrance of food pathogens or postharvest pathogens.
stopping decay and food pathogens. Wax coverage is recommended still to prevent water loss. To test for decay, the fruit was inoculated with decay organisms and then etched with the laser.
Naturally, the process still must be approved by the U s. Food and Drug Administration before it could be used commercially
either become new oak trees or food for other animals. Energy and nutrients are moved through the ecosystem this way,
when they talk about the food system is who is working, says Rachel Bailin, Farmscape's marketing manager.
and others, will argue that any move to bring food production closer to home, to encourage truck farming and vegetables,
It's a challenge for food science to mass produce healthier meals in ways that can be loaded on trucks
Food security Peter Singer argued that we waste most of the food value of the grains and soybeans we feed to animals.
the animals may return to us somewhere between one-tenth and one-third of the food value of the grains
If all markets were to remove meat â Â food production would decline, food prices would increase
and two million people would head to starvation. Fiona Chambers also agreed that taking animals off the menu would pose an ecological and food security disaster.
as such, are linked inextricably to the environment and the future of our food. Secondly, because they serve many important social
On the affirmative team, ex-food writer and journalist Veronica Ridge validated her argument with mouth-watering descriptions of vegetarian and vegan recipes.
prompting the government to respond with its food policy framework. On the ground, the city's do-it-yourself mindset and history of grassroots action has seen a popular resurgence of foodcentric groups in the past few years,
Open Food Foundation, Growstuff and 3000acres, who have adopted all a digital approach to food supply
Currently there are a lot of barriers to people accessing fresh, quality food at an affordable price, Serenity Hill,
a cofounder of the Open Food Foundation, says. We want to see more people eating good food
and we think technology can play a role. Open Food Foundation, along with Growstuff and 3000acres, represent a new wave of food innovators who work with a collaborative and open mindset,
across business, diverse communities and demographics. Their inclusive approach illustrates that the solution is not the responsibility of just one group.
However, these new enterprises are facing two key local challenges: the country's increase in foreign food imports and the continued supermarket duopoly and dominance of big food manufacturers in the supply chain.
This unhealthy competitive industrial food model privileges quantity and price over local communities and good health,
and preferences big factories and supermarkets over family farms and local markets. To level this playing field, Hill and Kirsten Larsen, both 36,
of Open Food Foundation have launched recently their flagship project, Open Food Network, an online marketplace connecting consumers to local producers and food hubs.
Hill describes the platform as an Amazon for food where endless possible scenarios could occur.
groups of friends in a neighborhood can set up a food co-op to buy bulk from farmers directly;
or a fruit and vegetable business can establish an online shop to sell food online
As a nonprofit organization, Open Food Foundation supports free software for community-focused small businesses working in the food industry.
Hill and Larsen hope their digital platform will offer a viable alternative to the current food supply chain.
Hill explains that the idea for the organization came from the concept of'open food'systems.
Open food is about bringing transparent information to growers, eaters and everyone in between so that they can make better decisions,
There is a global movement underway to rebuild locally controlled food economies support fair prices to farmers and consumers,
And while Open Food Foundation endeavors to rethink food distribution chains, a new social enterprise is focusing its attention on city's home growers.
while providing them with a practical local guide to growing their own food. Founder Alex Bayley, 38, a software engineer, came up with the concept
The technology entrepreneur believes she is typical of an increasing number of people turning to their own backyards for food.
I like to know where my food comes from, and because it gets me better quality produce for less money,
is currently working alongside the startup to produce a series of education-based initiatives aimed at encouraging home food production.
and assessing Melbourne's food production capabilities, by tracking the productivity of backyard harvests year after year.
such as legal agreements and a gardening checklist, to help them reclaim underutilized city spaces as food gardens. 3000acres will join the ranks of existing initiatives,
including New york s 596 Acres, Los angeles L a. Open Acres and Vancouver s Sole Food street farms.
increases the distance food is transported, disengages people from food production processes, and makes fresh food expensive.
Renkin claims 3000acres, through changing the urban landscape, will help to alleviate the pandemic of inactivity and obesity in the city.
Meanwhile, Shawn Ashkanasy of Urban Commons, a design supplier of urban food products, believes there are other economic benefits associated with this transition to a more inclusive system.
and support local food production and networks. Emily Ballantyne-Brodie, a Phd candidate focused on design-led food communities
shares Ashkanasy's views that these technologies will help establish a more egalitarian food network.
In the future, our food system will consist of a diverse array of food co-ops, businesses and social enterprises that develop models for local food growing,
delivering, sharing and purchasing. Photos: Toni-anne/Flickr (main), Lyre/Flickr, Urban Commons
Milkmaid replaces the milk sniff test with technologyit takes a village to raise a child,
and it takes an excited, participatory online community to raise a new milk jug. A month ago, the crowdsourcing invention incubator Quirky teamed with GE Garages
it is the first time the Supreme court made a decision about genetically modified foods. Now familiar with the war over GM food?
Here's a quick primer: 2005: The U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) approves the sale of GM alfalfa seeds. 2005 onward:
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